Food Web Interactions in Lakes

Abstract

Why study food webs in lakes? From a basic research perspective, ecological studies of lake food webs provide distinct advantages over studies in many terrestrial systems (Lampert 1987). Lake food webs are composed of organisms with relatively fast population turnover rates which interact in a relatively closed system. These features allow us to readily observe the often rapid dynamics of these systems or to experimentally manipulate these food webs and quickly assess the system response. Enclosures, ponds, and whole-lake manipulations are extremely useful experimental tools that have allowed aquatic ecologists to test hypotheses on food web structure and function that would have been difficult or impossible to address in many terrestrial systems.

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